We woke up at Andy's alarm but I didnt manage to drag myself out of bed until 6.30 as it was cold, but eventually we were ready to go and made our way to the bus stop via the bakery where I bought us coffee and a huge roll for lunch whilst Andy went to get some money out. We were just in time for the bus, bought our return tickets and jumped aboard excited at what the day had in store for us.

The journey took a little under half an hour and we arrived at the gates just after 8 where a few other tourists were milling around. We checked the map, paid our entrance (an extortionate $30 each!!!) and made our way to the little train that runs through the Park with a plan in mind to avoid as many tourists as possible! The train has 2 stations, one which leads to the 'Devil's Throat' the most famous part of the falls and where we overheard most people go to first and another, closer station which leads to the upper and lower trail each having different viewpoints over the Falls. This is where we decided to go first and it worked out splendidly, we barely saw 10 people on our way walking round for the first couple of hours and were able to enjoy the splendour of Iguazu Falls in the morning light in perfect stillness and serenity, a time we will never forget!! The lower trail took us near the base of the falls and standing in the soft, light spray with the sound of the many falls tumbling down from high above us was magical. The upper trail gave us a better overall view of this side of the Falls and you can truly start to appreciate the size of this 'Natural Wonder' of the world with its 275 individual waterfalls!! Having thoroughly explored these walkways we made our way back to the train station to head onwards to the Devil's Throat, leaving the peace and tranquillity behind as we joined an enormous crowd of other tourists on the platform. After 20 minutes or so during which we practised our South American pushing in/queue jumping skills, we finally boarded the mini train, squashed in like sardines we made the 15 minute trip to the last station. It is not actually that far but the train moves so slowly it seemed like a long way, had we realised there was a path we probably would have walked it instead of waiting around for ages! Once at the platform we fought our way through the various tour groups who have no regard for anyone but their herder (they are very much like sheep) and the several loud, slow, overweight Americans who manage to take up the whole path and finally were free to walk at a normal pace across the many metal walkways and bridges that have been constructed to allow access to the Falls. It is no wonder they are so impressive as the many/huge rivers we crossed were over a kilometre wide and I'm sure in the rainy season would have been faster flowing and much deeper, before plunging over the crescent shaped canyon aptly named the Devil's Throat for the thunderous noise and spuming spray that rises from the depths some 80 metres below. Of course this was packed with tourists and we had to wait our turn to squeeze in to the rails for a good view, but it was worth it and even though people say the sight is more impressive from the Brazilian side I can't see it being true, I think perhaps they say that as they are jealous not to see the full Falls as you can from this, the Argentinian side! After many, many pictures trying and probably failing to capture the majesty of this incredible sight we made our way back more slowly, taking the time to really appreciate the volume of water flowing in the rivers and to marvel at the enormous catfish that seem to thrive here, some were at least 2 if not 3 feet long before arriving once again at the little station. Whilst waiting to board we found out that the boat to the Isla San Martin which sits in the middle of the 2 parts of the Falls is actually free, where we had thought it a further $10 each and so changed our plans to head back to the lower trail and go across to the island instead of heading back to the entrance from where there is a small trail to a lone waterfall. It was by now about 1pm and we decided that we would have our lunch on the island and so after waiting for what seemed forever in the heat of the day for the little boat, we were finally across the water and set upon the shore where many people were sunbathing or swimming in the tiny area cordoned off for this purpose. Hopeful that this meant it wouldnt be too busy we decided to climb the long flight of steps to the summit of the island and leave the majority of tourists behind. It worked to some extent and we turned to our left at the fork at the top, deciding to walk round the island clockwise so as to see the Devil's Throat once more but from a distance this time although in its entirety....the only place other than in a helicopter or boat that you can do so, both of which were well out of our budget! Leaving this amazing view behind we continued round and came across a viewing platform called 'La Ventana' or The Window, so called because next to 2 pretty waterfalls there is a large hole in the rock through which you can see part of the Devil's Throat once again, very impressive and I made Andy climb up on the fence to get a good picture as a man had done before us. We left here to make our way to the final view point and before we even got there we stepped out of the trees to a welcome mist that washed over us cooling us down after all the steps and climbing we had done. We could hear the roar of the Falls again before we could see them and rounding a lush, green outcrop of rock the best view of the day emerged before us. A hundred or so waterfalls poured over the rim of the canyon sending shimmers of light darting all over the place, a breeze carried the gentle spray and we stood in awe at the beauty of this place, so close you could see individual droplets of water dripping from the long grasses that cling to the rocks in between. After some moments of gazing we decided we had finally found the perfect place to sit whilst we had our lunch and we eagerly devoured the large ham and cheese baguette I had gotten from the bakery that morning. We stayed there quite sometime, not wanting to leave, but eventually after deciding one day we would return to this place we left and made our way back to the little beach to wait for the boat to take us back across to the mainland. Now we continued with our original plan and headed back on the train to the first station where we found the Macaco Trail, a 3km track that takes you through tropical forest teeming with bird and wild life to a platform from which you can look down over a small waterfall to a natural pool below where a few brave people were swimming in the rather muddy looking water. Having come all this way we thought we might as well go down and have a paddle to cool our feet if nothing else and walked along the barely maintained wooden walkway and steps to the bottom where we clambered over some rocks before finding a place to take our shoes and socks off. We sat with our feet in the cold water watching as several people had made their way across or around the pool to where the waterfall beat upon the smooth, hard granite rocks and were taking it in turns to brave the icy shower it made. Had we brought our swimming stuff with us possibly we would have joined in but as it was we were content to rest a while before heading back up the steps and along the forest trail towards the exit. We took a rather long time however as we came across a group of what Andy calls 'grandfather' monkeys as they have grey fluffy hair rimming their little faces, playing in the trees and stood to watch their antics for some while. One ran so close by us that had we been quick enough we could have reached out and touched it, not that we would but I'm sure some of the other tourists would have had no such scruples, even though there are signs everywhere telling you not to feed the wildlife as our food is bad for them they obviously still do as I found out earlier in the day when I was attacked by a group of Coatis' who were after our lunch, clearly used to being given food by humans!! Eventually we moved on and arrived back at the entrance to the park after most people, certainly the tour groups, had left and wearily made our way to the bus stop to catch the much longer ride back to Puerto Iguazu. It seems that there are many hostels along the road to the Falls between the Park and the town and the bus had to stop at nearly every one of them either to let people off or pick people up who were heading into town for the evening and so it was after 6 by the time we reached the bus station and half past when we finally were able to have a shower (freezing cold!) at the campsite. Feeling refreshed we walked back into town to look for some dinner and a plug where we could charge the ipod for tomorrows journey, as well as go on the internet to book a hostel for Buenos Aires, our couch surf requests all being denied. We found a pizza place that had wifi and plugs but was a little pricey for food, so we decided to relax with a bottle of Argentinian wine while we did the necessaries on the internet and charged up before looking for something to eat. This was a good plan in essence but failed when the wine went to our heads due to empty stomachs and we ended up talking rubbish with Matthew on facebook for 2 hours and getting through a 2nd bottle of wine before heading back to the campsite very drunk and falling straight to sleep at about 11.